A developer that has been trying to get a new community approved in Greenwood since last year can move forward with its plans after several changes.
The approved plan calls for 94 homes — 22 percent fewer than the original proposal.
The city council on Monday approved the Arbor Homes community along Combs Road, just south of County Line Road, on a 7-1 vote. The Plan Commission, which also reviewed the proposed development again, forwarded it to the council with a favorable recommendation.
The Arbor Homes subdivision dubbed Ridgetop will back up to industrial buildings to the west.
Homes in this community will average $225,000, according to city documents. But that price will likely tick up due to larger lot sizes, which will hover around half an acre.
Last year, the developer requested rezoning 32 acres of land to R-3 from R-2 because the builder had plans to include more homes than would be allowed given its current zoning. R-2 allows for 3.5 homes per acre, while R-3 allows for up to six. The builder was planning to build about four houses per acre.
The city’s planning commission gave it a favorable recommendation, but the city council said no. The houses would be too close together, and Arbor did not have a good reputation in Greenwood, council members said.
Arbor met with area residents, some of whom hired attorneys, and worked with them to reach compromises and add certain commitments that went before the city council in February. Arbor agreed to that list of commitments, including planting trees along the west and south border of the community, paying or reimbursing for privacy fencing, only building detached single-family homes and meeting all of Greenwood’s architectural standards.
At that time, council member David Hopper pointed out that Arbor once said they couldn’t possibly meet Greenwood’s architectural standards. On Monday, Hopper, who worked with the developer to come up with a more suitable plan, encouraged his fellow council members to approve it.
An attorney for the developer said the houses in this community would be a good option for folks coming to Greenwood to work at one of its many warehouses, including Amazon which is expected to open later this year, and public safety employees.
Both residents and city leaders argued that people making $17 or $18 an hour, or even public safety employees whose spouses are stay-at-home parents, can’t afford homes that are more than $200,000.
They were also concerned about a lack of green space and nearby property values going down.
Arbor lowered the number of houses it planned to build to 112 from 120 as part of its initial list of commitments. But that didn’t cut it. The city council voted 4-5 in February on rezoning the land for this development, and sent the developer back to the drawing board, again.
Now, Arbor plans to build 94 houses — less than three per acre.
The community will also include a state-of-the-art, fenced in playground, per the city council’s request, two retention ponds and two separate access points, and Arbor will make improvements to city roads near the community.
